Madison — Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp on Tuesday defended Gov. Scott Walker's plan to turn the Natural Resources Board into an advisory panel, instead of one that makes policy, even as she acknowledged she had not been consulted on the proposal in advance.

"I feel that it's extra layers," Stepp said of the board in a briefing to the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. "I think it's duplicative."

The idea has sparked opposition from Democrats as well as some of Walker's fellow Republicans. Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) said he had "some concerns" about the plan.(49)

If Park Bank is liable for not spotting Sujata "Sue" Sachdeva's $34 million embezzlement from Koss Corp., then so is chief executive Michael Koss, the bank argues in a new lawsuit.

In a suit filed last week, the bank argues that if a jury finds Park Bank liable for the loss, then Michael Koss and Grant Thornton, the firm's former auditor, should have to pay some of the award.

"Park Bank denies any and all liability to Koss in this case," Park Bank wrote in its action. "Nevertheless, should Park Bank be found liable to Koss (Corp.) and required to pay damages to Koss in this case those damages will have been the result of a common liability of Park Bank, Michael Koss and Grant Thornton, thereby entitling Park Bank to (a) contribution from Michael Koss and Grant Thornton."(1)

Trust (County Exec) Scott Walker on local funding

Fellow Purple Wisconsin blogger Christian Schneider raised an important issue in his recent post (and column) about the funding relationship between the state and local municipalities. (We haven't actualy met yet. Hey, Christian; I'm Alex.) Let’s start with something I think everyone should be able to agree on.

Wisconsin has an unusual system, and it’s been unusual for a long time.

Forty years of sharing
Back in 1972, “shared revenue” was introduced, and residents from La Crosse to Port Washington began paying for a large part of their local government needs with a chunk of their state income tax. The idea was to make municipalities less reliant on property taxes and also equal things out a bit – so the gap between poor and wealthy areas wouldn't be as wide.

For a while, under both Democrat and Republican governors, it worked pretty well. Property taxes were lowered in places like Milwaukee and Waukesha. Funding was allocated according to a strict formula, so cities could budget for libraries, road repairs, police and fire fighters.

But then, during the Doyle administration, the state decided that it didn’t like seeing all that money flow back to municipalities. By that time, shared revenue had been around a while and “big brother” Wisconsin didn’t so much feel like sharing the pie with its little siblings, such as Beloit and Green Bay. Of course, the pie didn't (and doesn’t) exclusively belong to the state, as I’ve explained; Wisconsin is just the middle man in this system – returning to local governments what's already theirs in the first place.

Will Walker agree with Walker?
When Scott Walker was Milwaukee County Executive in 2009, he made this very point in his impassioned arguments to preserve shared revenue. Walker criticized the cuts from the state, saying that Doyle “shifted a lot of the costs onto local taxpayers and local governments.”

He was exactly right. Hopefully Governor Walker agrees with him.

The fact is that shared revenue is a critical funding source for cities, especially Milwaukee. Back when Walker was speaking out against the cuts, the City of Milwaukee lost just 0.2 percent of its state funding that year, but that equaled $466,906. The total allocation was $229.9 million.

Think it's tough to pay cops and fix bridges in Milwaukee now? Try doing it if the state takes a $230 million bite out of our city budget.

About that municipal “money pump”
Fast forward to 2013 and Christian Schneider seems to subscribe to the Jim Doyle school of thought that Wisconsin should keep as much municipal money as possible. No doubt it would give Governor Walker a lot of extra budget padding, enabling him to look good and cut state taxes. Unfortunately, that would absolutely force cities and municipalities to raise their own property taxes. (And look...not so good.) Without a sales tax – as virtually every other major city has at its disposal – or other funding mechanism, the City of Milwaukee's only option would be to further eliminate curb cutters and cops. Meaning: more pot holes and more crime.

Christian cites his own writing from two years earlier to make his case:

“For decades, Wisconsin state government has morphed into a local government money pump: It collects state income, sales and corporate taxes, and directs those funds back to cities, towns and school districts in the name of "property tax relief." In the last budget, 55% of state general fund appropriations were sent to local governments. That means that the government that raised the revenue isn't the government that spent it.”

Sort of, but not exactly.

Once again, the state is simply administering distribution of the funds, not “raising revenue." Given the choice of having their tax dollars go to the many layers of state government or the stripped-down services that help their neighborhoods, I think most people would rather have taxes go where they can actually see the benefits.

The dirty little secret, though, is that local governments (like the one Walker used to run) don’t want to operate at the mercy of big state government, so many don’t like the system any more than Christian does. But without any new revenue streams or real funding tools – like a sales tax – Milwaukee can’t possibly make up that $200 million shortfall.

This is no different than the state being frustrated that it has to be reliant on the federal government for so many things. (Medicaid?) I’m sure the Walker administration doesn’t like having to regularly deal with Washington, and – believe me – Milwaukee, Waukesha and Wausau would rather not have to continually make their case to Madison.

Which brings us to Christian’s secondary point that there are too many local government lobbyists.

Representing residents
How many lobbyists should be employed by cities and public school districts – this is a reasonable issue worthy of debate. Honestly, I don’t know what the right number is, but I'm sure it depends on the size of the city. I do know, however, that these people are intelligent and tireless workers, traveling back and forth between their homes and Madison, essentially speaking up for the perspectives of local citizens.

When I was the chief aide to Milwaukee Common Council President Hines, for example, residents in our district complained that too many empty MPS schools were adversely affecting their neighborhoods. MPS made it clear that they would refuse to even consider selling/renting vacant facilities to any “competitors” – even high-performing charters run by UW-Milwaukee.

Both Pres. Hines and I were (and still are) proud MPS parents, but this protectionist policy didn’t make any sense. So we worked with our city lobbyists to make the residents' case to the state, and Sen. Alberta Darling listened. Today, thanks to her legislation, the City of Milwaukee’s Department of City Development is an active partner in helping (and sometimes prodding) MPS to move its buildings to prospective buyers or renters. This has brought vitality and high-quality educational options back to certain Milwaukee neighborhoods.

Residents were concerned. City officials responded. City lobbyists made the case. The state listened and responded with good policy.

That’s how it works. If the state is looking for ways to save money, it shouldn’t do so by discarding the voices of local residents and local governments.

Nor should Wisconsin turn its back on the wisdom of County Executive Scott Walker.

Editor's Note: Purple Wisconsin is a collection of community bloggers with views from across the political spectrum. The Journal Sentinel hosts these blogs as a way to encourage thoughtful debate about the important issues facing Wisconsin and the Milwaukee region. The opinions voiced here are those of the individual bloggers alone; they are responsible for their posts. The Journal Sentinel does not edit or direct the bloggers in any fashion.

Alex Runner is slowly fixing up a bungalow in Milwaukee's historic Sherman Park neighborhood. A former city policy advisor, he's an advocate of pragmatic government innovation that cuts through ideological divisions. Being a Milwaukee Public Schools parent, Runner is both a fierce defender and constant critic of MPS. Besides the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, his writing has appeared in Milwaukee Magazine, Urban Milwaukee, Newsweek, The New Republic, Christianity Today and Sanitary Maintenance magazine.